Currency News for September 20, 2021

The Cedi maintained its momentum as it began the week building on last week’s gains against some of its major trading partner currencies on the Open Forex Market (oanda.com). On the Bank of Ghana (BoG) inter-bank trading platform, the Cedi extended its gains recorded last week against the Pound and the Euro but failed to sustain its gain against the Dollar.

The local currency has over the past few days gained traction against some of its major trading partner currencies following increasing participation by the central bank in Ghana’s currency space. Over the past month, the BoG has more than doubled its allocation in its bi-weekly forex forward rates auctions after the Cedi came under intense pressure erasing its earlier gains.

On the BoG inter-bank trading platform, the Cedi lost by 0.12% to open the week trading at GHC 5.8659 from last week’s open trade value of GHC 5.8590. Against the Pound and the Euro, the Cedi was up by 1.13% and 0.53% after it traded at GHC 8.0193 and GHC 6.8818 at the start of the week compared to last week’s open trade figures of GHC 8.1107 and GHC 6.9186 respectively. The Euro sustained losses against some of its trading peers as investors grow increasingly skittish ahead of elections in the Eurozone’s biggest economy with Angela Merkel stepping down as Chancellor of Germany after 16 years.

On the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), the Cedi surged by 0.44%, 1.53%, and 1.11% to trade at GHC 6.0406, GHC 8.2634, and GHC 7.0795 at the start of the week from last week’s opening trade values of GHC 6.0672, GHC 8.3921, and GHC 7.1589 against the Dollar, the Pound, and the Euro respectively. The greenback weakened after softer-than-expected US inflation data eased short-term expectations about tapering of asset purchases by the Federal Reserve.

According to the BoG inter-bank rates, the Ghanaian Cedi began the year 2021 at GHC 5.7631 [January 4th, 2021] against the US Dollar and is currently selling at GHC 5.8659 [September 20, 2021] indicating a 1.78% year-to-date (ytd) depreciation. Similarly, on the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), the Ghanaian Cedi traded at GHC 5.8885 [January 4th, 2021] and is currently trading at GHC 6.0406 [September 20, 2021], representing a 2.58% ytd depreciation against the US Dollar.